


The Gatekeeper

by Zuzanny



Category: Original Work
Genre: Based on a dream I had, Community Living, Dismemberment, M/M, R.O.U.S', Terraforming, alien monster-god-thing, being favored is not necessarily a good thing, beurocracy and red-tape, colonists, fic from 2009, language/dialect differences, nonconsensual limb replacements, one person's trash is another's treasure, prison community, shanty town, too late to treat the disease
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26706832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zuzanny/pseuds/Zuzanny
Summary: Dr. Claret and an armed team were sent by  InsertNameHere  Health Services to a remote prison community known as The Bin to deal with an outbreak of a disease only to arrive 8 years after the outbreak.  But instead of being wiped out, the community is all immune thanks to The Gatekeeper, who demands Payment for traversing his territory.  Only Jack can pay it. ?M/M
Relationships: implied Jack/Gatekeeper?, potential Jack/Black?





	1. Chapter 1

2009- 19 July 2010

The Gatekeeper

by Zuzanny

Part 1  
(INSERTLINEBREAKHERE)  
There were voices whispering around him.

Black opened his eyes and grimaced at the dirt-smeared faces peering down at him. The air was putrid, smelling of rotten vegetables and dead eggs. He scrunched up his nose in disgust and concentrated on breathing through his mouth instead.

"Well, hello," One of them said, a woman with long, blond stringy hair hanging down in his face, and a grin that was missing a couple font teeth. "Welcome to the bin."

The two men with her rolled their eyes, then reached down to help Black up. "So what are you lot in for?" The older of the two men asked.

Black blinked, then looked around, realizing with some shock that he wasn't the only one being helped up. In fact there was someone beside him who was coughing like they had just breathed in water.

"Oh my God," The coughing person gasped between hacks.

"Yeah, I'd expect it'd take you lot a while to get used to the so-called air here." It was the woman speaking again, but now she was kneeling on the red, slate-like ground beside the choker and whacking him on the back.

"We're... from the... (EnterName) Health Services." The rasped out. The woman kept whacking him on the back. "We received a request for medical aid." He let out a few more deep chested coughs while the woman exchanged glances with those she was with, and they all snorted.

"You a doctor?" She asked with disbelief.

The choker nodded, still gasping for air. "Yes, I'm doctor Claret. I was told it was urgent."

"About fifty years too late." One of the men, the younger one, muttered loudly.

"Hey now, Frisket." The woman chided him. "Any aid's better'en none. So you best spread word to all th'others he being here is to be treated with all-respectfullness-like."

The one dubbed 'Frisket' blushed and ducked his dark, mud-spiked head with a "Yes'm!" and hurried forward to help both the woman and the doctor to their feet.

Black likewise climbed to his feet to take better stock of the situation. There were four in his group including the doctor and himself. The other two, like him, were dressed in full battle fatigues, although their packs were still on the ground and their weapons were missing. The area they had been lying him was semicircular in shape, walls of solid red rock and piles of rubble reached up to the dark, glowing, red sky and filled all directions. The only light with them was from the fires lit on crude stakes that lined up in a pathway between the huge piles of rubble. Black looked behind himself and found solid rock. There was no logical way he and his men could have arrived there, unless they had jumped ship and their parachutes had not worked? He looked up towards the sky again. He could see no clouds, and at the same time, there were no stars. In the flickering firelight, the rock walls glinted like metal.

Black signalled to his men, Flatley and Oneyear, with his fingers, which they acknowledged with a nod, and moved to stand behind the young doctor. Black stepped up to the woman, grunting, "Woman."

The woman simply raised an eyebrow and put one arm back to prevent 'Frisket' from attacking Black with the pathetic wooden staff he was carrying. "Yes, Boy?" She grinned back at Black.

"We were told the situation was urgent. We are here. So take us to whoever it is that needs help so we can get the hell out of here. And I demand you return our weapons."

"Why, aren't you a bright spark!" She all but laughed at him, before sauntering up close, as though wearing grunge-smeared overalls and not bathing was even remotely attractive. She stared deep into Black's eyes without a hint of the intimidation that she damn well should have had. "What are you so scared of so'sen you be needing petty bangers for?" Then she turned from him and smiled brightly at the doctor. "Come on doc, we'll take you to meet th'others

"Wait!" The doctor called after her as she turned to walk away. "There was a man in there before. Where is he? I think he may have been hurt."

The woman and her group froze and looked at the doctor in shock. "Jack?" She barely breathed, her face gone pale despite the dirt and the firelight.

"I'm here, Sarah." Another voice rasped from behind Black, which made him spin to face the man standing where no one had been just moments before. A man with a mop of stringy blond hair just like the woman's, leaned against the cliff face with his arms wrapped around himself with head bowed and shoulders hunched. The woman, Sarah, rushed over to him, but he waved her off and pushed past her, bumping Black's shoulder in his haste to get past everyone. "Let's just be gone." Black watched as all eyes of the 'welcoming party' were on this 'Jack' until he disappeared between the rubble piles.

Sarah stood poised with one arm reached out in jack's direction for a few moments before clenching her fist and dropping her arm back to her side. "Alright," she said loudly. "You heard him. Let's be gone!"

(INSERTLINEBREAKHERE)

Sarah lead the way with the doctor dragging his case while he walked beside her, Flatley and Oneyear followed the doctor, then came Black with Frisket and the other guy. Those two walked with their staffs held out defensively. At first Black resented the weapons being pointed in his direction... but then he realized that the staffs were actually being pointed outwards... and their 'guards' were eyeing the shadows nervously.

"Looks like-" Frisket started.

"Don't you be sayen nothen." The older on hissed, looking about with wild eyes. "not till we be back in our boarders."

Frisket clamped his lips shut.

"What are you looking out for?" Black asked quietly. Both men stared at him like he was some kind of bug-eyed, giant pink fluffy bunny-thing.

"You serious?" Frisket asked. He really was young, Black realized. Maybe not even fifteen. And just like the adults he traveled with, his clothes were made of scraps and covered in mud.

"Hushen your voice." The older man hissed again. "Look, mister aid-on-a-stick-man. Ever heard the term, "here be dragons"?"

Black inclined his head with a frown. "Well, we don't be knowen eggzactly WHAT the Gatekeeper is, but he sure is mighty unfriendly with those who walk his grounds. And you already been doing so."

Black paused. "How so?"

"Don't cha know how you got here?" Frisket asked, and to Black's surprise, he realized he didn't.

"Well it doesn't matter none." The older one hushed them. "All you need to know- and you tell your friends this too- is to stay in town at night. Never come out here without a light, a weapon, and without Jack."

"Jack?" Black echoed. "That blond guy up front?"

"Yeah. The Gatekeeper demands payment for traversing his land. Jack's the only one who can pay it and has lived, so I guess you could say he's favored."

"What do you mean? What sort of payment?" Black didn't even remember seeing Jack before he mysteriously appeared by the rock wall.

The two guards exchanged looks. "We don't rightly know." The older said. "But I wouldn't go asking him. He can get mighty prickly himself."

"That's for sure." Frisked snorted.

"Huh." Black said, his interest pricked. He looked back along the road in front, spying the man in question limping along, still with his arms wrapped around himself.

Soon there came a glow ahead that turned out to be a fortified town, with sheets of metal being used as a wall and portcullis-style gate several stories high. Black could see there were guards posted high up on the walls and gate, back lit by the inner city glow, all watching the approach of their little entourage with crossbows ready. The gate was heaved upwards, and once their group was through it, it was quickly lowered. Solid doors cobbled together out of wood and metal scraps were pulled closed on the outside with long poles. The clang as the poled were dropped once the gate was closed range with a finality that raised the hair on the back of Black's neck.

(INSERTLINEBREAKHERE)  
The town was entirely built of scrap, he noticed as he looked around. A huge bomb fire burned in the center of the town, the heat could be felt even from outside the gate.

Sarah lead the doctor off to the right. "Come on, the Sheriff'll wanna meet you lot."

Black followed behind, continuing to look around. He realized he had lost sight of Jack. "Where did-"

"Best be meeting the Sheriff." The older man interrupted. "We need to prepare you lodgings and restock the supplies. Can't have you lot starving to death now."

Black knew a hint when he heard it and so kept his questions to himself, grudgingly contenting himself with observing.

The Sheriff was a man with greying hair and skin that looked leathered in the sun. He was dressed much like the others Black had seen, with scraps of leather and wood added, heavily home made and repeatedly repaired. It was the fact that this man carried a revolver that made Black sit up and listen. He had not seen anyone else carrying anything more advanced than crossbows. Granted he had not seen many of the town's inhabitants yet, but still...

The Sheriff's eyes were wary, and he gave them a tight smile as Sarah introduced the doctor. "About bleeding time they decided to do something." He growled. "It's been, what," He looked sharply at Sarah. "Eight years? Since Jack first went?"

She nodded solemnly. "next moonrise."

"Excuse me?" The doctor squeaked. "We only received word yesterday that we were needed. We came as quick as we could."

Again the Sheriff's mouth twitched. "Mighly commendable of you Young Doctor. What are you here for?"

"We were told there was and outbreak of a disease called Monstartans."

"So it WAS Monstartans." Sarah breathed, once more exchanging looks with the Sheriff, who was looking very smug.

"Well sorry to waste your time, doc. But there aint no Monstartans here no more. You ARE eight years too late. I never realized how thick that red tape really was till now. Just as well

we don't do things that way here."

Dr. Claret stared in shock, his mouth gaping like a fish for some moments. "But," he looked around the room. "But... If that were so... How did you all survive? In this close and environment you should have all died!"

"Yet you came full protected, I see."

"We've been fully inoculated." Dr. Claret said absently.

Again the Sheriff's mouth twitched. "I guess you could say the same of us then." He then waved his hand in dismissal. "Set them up with us." He said. "And tell jack I expect him to sleep some tonight."

"Yes, Papa!" Sarah chirped, giving him a mock solute, then turned to usher the group back out towards the bomb fire. "Oh that sure was nice." She told the doctor. "We don't often be having visitors now that Jack and I are all growed up." She chattered amicably as they walked across the swept stone that was the ground around the bomb fire, all the way around to the opposite side to a structure that was like all the others- made of scrap and several stories high. One thing that intrigued Black was that while all the buildings were made of junk, they were all well put together, like a city center from centuries ago was picked up and dropped here. There was even some stained glass windows in some of the front walls. Black had to wonder if some of the buildings were actually shops.

(INSERTLINEBREAKHERE)

Sarah's door opened with a squeak, revealing a room wall to wall with books. There were shelves standing together, some made of actual furniture, and some just planks with blocks of stone separating them.

"This is the library." Sarah explained, leading the group through the shelves, and then through another door into a room that functioned as a kitchen and family room. There was a stairway leading off to the left just as they entered, a door under the stairs, and a wooden bench in the middle of the room. Battered old pots and and assortment of dried plants hung from beams in the sealing above the bench. A table with four chairs was next to the bench. A fire pit was between the bench and the table. The back wall was made of sheets of black plastic, lazily blowing in the breeze. "Sit down." Sarah motioned for the visitors to sit, which they did after dropping all the bags on the floor. "Bed rooms are upstairs." She said as she went behind the bench and began opening doors to cupboards under it and against the wall, producing tin mugs and chipped cups. Frisket went and helped Sarah get things on a tray, along with a few bottles of something that Black hoped was alcoholic.

"I'd offer you a feast, but we have to wait for the hunters to get back before we have any meat to cook." She uncorked the bottle with a yank of her teeth, and took a long swig directly from it, letting out a loud belch when she was done.

"What do you eat here?" Dr. Claret asked, walking around the room and peering at the hanging roots. "Where do you get these from?"

"We grow them." Came Jack's raspy voice from the doorway that lead back to the library. His hair was damp and his skin flushed. An old towel hung around his neck. He still held one arm close to his body, and through the almost threadbare shirt he wore, dark bruises were visible around the base of his throat and down his wrist to his fingertips.

"Hey Jack." Sarah waved at him, smiling her bright smile.

"Hey," he waved back with the un-bruised arm, his mouth twitching in a small smile. He then fixed his eyes upon the doctor, uncertainty coming across his face making him look very young.

"Excuse me, Doctor," Came the Sheriff's voice also form the doorway. Jack spun around to face him in fright.

"Yes?" Dr. Claret immediately stood at attention, watching the Sheriff lean against the door frame casually, while Jack backed against the door under the stairs with a trapped expression on his face.

"I was wondering if you could be so kind as to be looking over my son here." The Sheriff yanked his head in Jack's direction. Jack's wide eyes immediately turned towards the doctor, and he shook his head wildly before looking down at the floor and hunching over further. The Sheriff sighed loudly. "He aint gonna hurt you none." He said in a soothing tone of voice. "And he may have something to take the pain away."

Jack's head shot up at that, before he flushed and looked away.

"I promise I will not touch you without you saying I can." Dr Claret said, looking Jack up and down, cataloguing visible signs and symptoms that made sense to him.

Jack then looked him in the eyes for a few long moments, before nodding his head once.

The doctor immediately reached for his rolling case. "If you have some place private?" Jack bowed his head, and lead the doctor through the door under the stairs. The doctor followed and closed the door behind him. Like the rest of the house, this room was created and filled with goods made of scrap materials. There was wooden desk and chair crafted together with ropes and wedges. There was a bed with blankets that looked to be knitted out of grasses of some kind. Jack sat on the desk top while the doctor stood looking at him.

"So..." The doctor trailed off as Jack let the silence stretch between them.

Jack looked down at his feet. Finally he rasped, "I... I think maybe... my arm... may be broke."

Dr. Claret let go of the handle of his bag and stepped closer. "Alright. Now how bad would you rate your pain?"

Jack just blinked at him in confusion.

"If zero was no pain at all, and ten was excruciating pain, like getting your leg cut off-"

Jack paled so suddenly, swaying slightly, that Dr. Claret thought he might faint. "This..." He whispered. "Compared to having my leg cut off... this is nothing."

(INSERTLINEBREAKHERE)  
(Eight years ago)

It was mid afternoon by the time they had realized Jack was missing. Alex, Damien and Fred came to the Sheriff, all looking nervously back and forth between each other.

"What can I do for you boys?" The Sheriff asked, hoping that none of their families had finally died from the sickness yet.

"Sir," Alex asked with politeness that instantly had the Sheriff's spine tingling. "Have you seen Jack?"

The Sheriff jumped to his feet. "Not since this morn." When he saw the youths looked at each other with horror, he growled low in his throat, causing them to whimper and cringe. "Tell me now, boys. Don't you hold none back if you value your hides."

After some communal glances among the three of them, Alex became their spokesman. "Last night he was talken 'bout one of his books and how the sickness was cured on the surface and how he would talk to th'Gatekeeper. We thought he was jesten. And when he wasn't there for our scrounge party we thought mebe he be sick too. But we just been to see Sarah and she aint seen him since sun up neither. The guardsmen say they aint let him through, but..." They all looked guilty. The Sheriff took in a deep breath in preparation for words he knew would test hit patients and temper.

"Go on."

"We don't always use the entrance way."

The Sheriff closed his eyes and counted to ten, letting a calming breath out. "I see." He said. "Well given the time of day, he'll have had plenty of time to have made it there and back... if he's still living." Seeing the horrified questioning in the boys' eyes he added, "with the sickness, I've none I can spare for a rounden-up posse till this evenen, and that's far too dangerous a time to go hunten for him. If he's not back by sundown, he'll have to wait for morn to be searched for." He paused. "Tell me of this other way y'all use. Is he likely to return that way too?"

The boys exchanged looks. "It's possible." Fred said. "Specially if the gates is closed."

The Sheriff nodded. "Right. Then boys I need to ask you something special. I need y'all to go guard your entrance and have one of you come tell me the moment there is any sign of him. On no circumstances are any of you to go searchen for him without one of us hunten party, you hear? If he's been taken by one of those beasts, I don't want to have to explain to any of yo' mammas why you been taken too, you hear?"

At their acceptance, the Sheriff shoes them out to guard their entrance while he silently cursed his own son's intelligence... or lack there of when it came to common sense. He left the premises and headed home to visit with his wife and daughter, hoping he wasn't going to have to bury a third member of his family any time soon.

At dusk the screaming started. Everyone in the town froze what they were doing, exchanged glances with each other, and if able, left their dwellings to stand outside and search out the origin. Those guarding the gate and walls shifted with unease. The Sheriff ran up the rustic stairs to join them on the ramparts and look off in the direction of the Gatekeeper's dwelling. The Sheriff's knuckles were white as he used a pair of binoculars that was missing lenses out of one side in an attempt to look through the coming dark for any sign that Jack was on the way back on the pathway... and anywhere where he and his hunting party could safely retrieve him.

"We aint seen no sign of him." One of the head guards said quietly.

The Sheriff's mouth squeezed into a thin line. "Least we know he's still liven. But I can't risk no more of my people here."

The head guard shifted, and the Sheriff took his eyes away from the binoculars in question. "Sir, we are prepared to roll out immediately come sun-up."

The Sheriff placed a hand on the guard's shoulder. "Thank you my friend." Then he turned and briskly left. All the while, the sound of his son's tortured screams shattered his heart. "I'm so sorry, my boy." He breathed to himself. "It aint safe till dawn. Please hang on till then."

The Sheriff returned to his wife and daughter, to find them trying to drag themselves out of their beds with legs that refused to move. He quickly picked up his skeletal and hysterical wife and returned her to bed.

"My boy!" She sobbed, clutching at the Sheriff's shirt. "Where's my baby? Where's Jack?" She punched at his chest, and he let her. "You can't just leave him! You've to DO somethin! My baby, my baby!" She continued to sob while he rocked her in his arms and tried to sooth her, tears also streamed down his face.

The moon was low in the sky when the screams finally stopped, and were replaced with sobs from within the enclosed town.

The sheriff left the arms of his exhausted wife when there was knocking at the front door.

"You best come see, Sir." It was Alex. Without even wiping the crust from his eyes, the Sheriff ran to the front entrance with Alex along side him. He bounded up to the ramparts again, accepting the spyglass from the current head guard.

Slowly, sometimes staggering widely, was Jack, walking the dusty road towards the town.

"Open the gates!" The Sheriff shrieked, virtually jumping down the stairs in his rush to get out the gates and run to his son. Many others also ran towards Jack.

The Sheriff flung his arms around his son and crushed him to his chest, tears streaming down his face. "Thank God, Thank God, you're alive." He held Jack out at arm length to look at his son's face. "Don't you dare ever scare me like that again, ya hear?" The Sheriff then felt something like ice run through his veins was he realized Jack hung almost limply in his arms, and hadn't made a sound. The sheriff lifted Jack's chin to better look into his pale face, just as the sun was now casting beams of light towards their position. Jack's eyes were hooded, his pupils to dilated there was virtually no colour left, his expression blank. Blood was smeared from his nose and mouth. There was the metallic smell of blood loss about him that the Sheriff knew far too well. Jack's clothes were torn and dark with the substance that had hardened and had flaked off in places. The Sheriff could see by the sheer amount that covered him, there was no way Jack should be alive.

"Jack?" He questioned quietly. But Jack's eyes slid past him to the gathering crowd. His mother and sister rushed up, enveloped him in a hug so tight it made Jack gasp, and he reached out a shaking, blood smeared hand to touch his sister's hair. He smiled a small smile at her, relief crossing his face before he went completely limp in the Sheriff's arms. The Sheriff hoisted him up like a baby to carry him home, ordering boiled water and clean rags to be brought to him as he went.

Once home, the Sheriff tenderly lay his son on his bed and sent Sarah out to help gather healing herbs. Only the parents were allowed in the room, both of them well versed in dealing with injuries. Silently they helped strip their son of his bloody clothes, pulling his arms through sleeves, and rolling him from side to side to take his weight off trapped articles of clothing.

"Mercy!" his mother hissed as she saw the dark bruises that covered his chest and arms, but the worst was yet to come as the Sheriff worked on getting his son's pants down. "What the hell is THAT?"

"Oh, my boy..." The sheriff groaned deep from within himself as he beheld the object that was in the place of where Jack's right leg should have been. Something, that while may have been a leg of some kind, was definitely not human. The dark blue scales that sparkled in the lamplight, and the clawed talons in the place of toes attested to that. It didn't matter that it joined seamlessly to the hip like it had always been a part of him. He looked up at his wife. "Elise..."

Her face hardened as she took on the persona that separated her emotional attachment to the person she was attending. "Get me those cleaning rags!" She yelled out the door. "And where the hell is the hot water!" Moments later she was handed what she was needed.

The Sheriff was grim as he washed the blood and grime from his son's body, Elise gathering Jack's stained clothing together in a pile before returning to wash his face and run her fingers through is sweat and blood stiffened hair.

"How do you think this happened?" She asked. "That leg-"

"His friends told me he went to the Gatekeeper for help. To trade for passage to the surface to ask for aid for the sickness." He replied quietly, then looked her in the eyes. "How are you feeling?"

Elise blinked. "Like I was never ill." She looked down at her son. "Do you think he made it to the surface and they did this to him?"

"No." The Sheriff answered firmly. "I think the Gatekeeper did this. He was walking on that thing like... like it was almost natural. This sickness, Ellie... You know it's not one people recover from, specially when your legs go. Yet here you are. And Sarah. And all th'others who were hit. I think our Jack may have made a bargain with the devil, and I just hope he will live to see the results. I seriously doubt that his leg was the only thing he traded. I don't know what else, but I bet it sure wasn't pleasant."

Elise bent down to kiss Jack's sweaty brow. "We'll ask him when he wakes up." She whispered while the Sheriff covered jack's now clean but still naked body with the pile of blankets. "Come back to us." She continued. "Open your eyes for Momma."

Jack's eyes moved around under his lids like he was dreaming, but apart from that there was no sign he had even heard her.

Elise sat with her son all day and fell asleep on his bed. It was morning again when she woke to feel him stirring, shifting position, and she saw him frown with out opening his eyes yet.

"Jack, sweetie?" she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. Jack flinched at her touch, then opened his eyes wide, and stared up at her as though he wasn't sure she were real. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. He grimaced, and brought one hand to his throat, breathing hard.

"Shhhh..." She soothed and helped him sit up so he could have a drink of water from the tin mug she retrieved from the floor beside his bed. His hands shook violently when he reached out to hold the mug, so she held it to his lips for him. Jack took one sip before turning his head away, clutching at his throat again as he coughed voicelessly. He slowly recovered his breath, then turned his big eyes to his mother, reaching out to run his fingers through her hair. Elise sat still, letting him touch her hear. But when he smiled brightly at her, she couldn't help her self, and crushed him to her chest in a hug. "My baby!"

She felt Jack's breathing hitch, then change, and felt the tears as they streamed down her neck. At first she worried she had hurt him, but he clutched at her tighter when she moved to let go, so she didn't. She just held him and rocked him, whispering soothing nothings against his head while he silently sobbed.

To be continued ?


	2. Chapter 2

24 july 2010- 25 August 2012

The Gatekeeper

by Zuzanny

Part 2

(insertlinebreakhere)

Doctor Claret closed the door behind him with deliberate gentleness, resisting the urge to slam it violently in reaction to what he had seen. All eyes from the kitchen area turned to look expectantly at him as he leaned against the door. Sarah was lounging with her dirt coated feet up on the bench top, with Frisket seated beside them, chewing on something dark that the doctor couldn't actually identity (and wasn't sure he wanted to). The soldiers who had arrived in The Bin with the doctor all stood with their backs to walls and their arms crossed. The Sheriff casually knocked Sarah's feet off the bench and then approached the doctor, drawing him back out into the library.

"How's my boy?" The Sheriff's voice was a soft rumble.

Dr. Claret crossed his arms across his chest, just like the soldiers he had been with. He was still shaken by what he had seen. "His arm is broken. In multiple places as far as I can tell." He said as matter-of-factly as he could manage. "He told me it was twisted around a number of times." The Sheriff's face went white at those words, but he nodded. "From the amount of... bruising and... damage..." The doctor shook his head grimly. "I've sedated him and given him something for the pain. I've never actually seen the drugs work so quickly to tell you the truth. But frankly... " He looked the Sheriff in the eyes. "there's no way I can save his arm in this environment. I want to immediately evacuate him back to the surface."

"And do what?" The Sheriff's eyes glittered in the firelight that came in through the stained windows at the front of the building. "Amputate? Not gonna happen."

"You don't understand!" The doctor almost shouted, but caught himself at the last moment, and instead hissed, "He will die if nothing is done. And I'm talking hours, not days."

"No, YOU don't understand." The Sheriff said gently, almost sadly. "Even if we agreed for you to take him, there's no way Jack would be able to go to the surface again. He's the... favored one of The Gatekeeper-"

"If by being favored he is to get his arm twisted off, then I would hate to see what happens to someone who this gatekeeper decides to hurt!"

The Sheriff took in a deep, slow breath, and leaned against the book shelf closest to him. "There's some things I think need being explained here, Mister Doctor-man. This here Bin is not like the surface. And the Gatekeeper is not like US. No one is knowing eggzakly WHAT he is, excepting he is not like us. No one can leave once they get sent down here, and Jack's the only one out of those born here to make it TO the Gatekeeper, let alone past and back again. Sarah told me you actually remembered seeing Jack in the tunnels, so maybe you might be trade-able. Not so sure about th'others with you though."

The doctor frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Meself and those born here are the only ones with complete memories." The Sheriff continued, turning to run his fingers over the titles on the book self. "Not even my wife knew who or what she had been before the surface law-n-order dumped her down here." At the doctor's continued confused expression, the Sheriff's mouth twisted slightly, and he muttered, "Maybe you ain't been so innocent after all."

"I don't know what you are insinuating, but I have not committed any crimes, thank you very much." Dr. Claret stood himself as tall as he could in an attempt to look impressive. The Sheriff just snorted in amusement.

"Don't matter to me none one way or another. That's up to the Gatekeeper to deal with. But Jack still ain't going up top to get his arm taken off by you or your kind."

"You would rather see you son die in agony then live with one less limb?!"

"Child, if I were inclined to roll my eyes, I would so be doing so right this moment. Of course I don't want my boy to be in pain, and I am grateful for all you be doing to keep him from being so. But the fact is we're dealing with powers beyond our ken, and way beyond any you been seeing before I'd wager. This ain't the first time Jack's come back with limbs all askew. If Jack's arm ain't fixed by sun-up... then I'll be considering your offer. How's that sound?" And without another word the Sheriff swept out of the front door of the library, and immediately into conversation with another large, muscular man with a rough cloth tied around the left side of his head and covering his eye who had been waiting out there. They continued to talk as they walked away from the library and out of the doctor's vision.

"So you got any fancy teas in that bundle of good you got with you, doc?" Sarah's bright voice from behind him made the doctor jump and spin with a squeak. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking up at the tall bookshelves, hands clasped behind her back and rocking backwards and forwards on her heals and toes. "It was eight years ago Jack came back with a pocketful of the stuff, and we ain't tasted anything like it again since. Papa says the right plants wouldn't grow here even if they were to survive the tossing down, and it ain't like the folks up above would actually send down anything they would want themselves, you know? Occasionally some left over bundles get tossed, but papa says they ain't as good as up there gets fresh."

The doctor blinked, still puzzling over The Sheriff's words, and then flushed. "I'm sorry, Miss. But, we, uh... probably shouldn't eat or drink anything here until after we've tested it. You understand, right?"

Sarah did roll her eyes, unlike her father. "There ain't being nothing wrong with the water. Not the food neither. Since the Monstartans hit, the Gatekeeper makes sure all is clean. He don't like us all being sick, and risking Jack."

"Yet he will injure Jack?" The doctor said with some sarcasm. "Almost tear his arm off and let him die from the complications and shock that would follow?"

"Jack won't die from this." Sarah said seriously with a peculiar tone in her voice. "The Gatekeeper wont LET him die, no matter what." She turned to look deep in the doctor's eyes. "Did he tell you 'bout how he went up there for help?" The doctor shook his head, not sure how it was relevant, or if these people were even sane at all. "Well, eight years ago all us girls were hit with the Monstartans. Someone decided to toss some dead sick down the shoots. Was probably a few years brewing under all the dump by the time our scroungers found the bits. Maybe half chewed by the gerbils we had brought in for cooking so maybe we'd been eating it for a while by then, who knows? But personally I reckon it was when the scroungers found the bits, coz it was real quick after that when all us girls ended up sick."

(insertlinebreakhere)

Black watched the young man known to him as 'Frisket', while he chewed on some kind of dried meat and watched Sarah follow her father and the doctor back into the library. "So what's your name, kid?" Black asked as he seemed to be quite content to be quiet. "Or is Frisket the name you were born with?"

'Frisket' grinned, showing half chewed muck at the same time. "Nah, Frisket's just my title till I kill me a Gerbil. Then I'll be a Hatchet. Me real name's Dan."

"Kill you a Gerbil?" Oneyear repeated without understanding. Dan saluted with the bit of dried something he had been chewing on.

"Yeah. Nasty cridders. Bigger than we are most of the time, with claws and teeth that can take off a limb in one bite. Live out under the heaps, and come out at night to chew through what gets dumped, so we gotta go through it all first if we want any quality scraps at all. Me brother Ben said they can spit acid and breath fire. I don't believe him though."

"So, they are animals then?" Black asked.

Dan shrugged. "Maybe. Jack says he mite-a saw a cat once. When he went up there for help. Said it was smaller than a new-born. Showed me a book with pics of animals once. There ain't nothing like our gerbils in there though." Dan trailed off, eyes going distant. "What y'all gonna do now y'all stuck here? I know we been getting by till now, and we don't normally get new blood from up top for another few months. We ain't got new kids on the way that I know of neither."

"We're not stuck here." Black said.

Dan snorted. "Ifen you say so.

"If we don't check in within a week, a retrieval team will be sent."

Dan squinted up at Black. "Then I hope you be right and be able to get back before then, or we'd have even more mouths to feed." He grinned. "You lot any good at hunten?"

(insertlinebreakhere)

(Six years ago)

It had been an accident. After participating in the daily scrounge, something had happened amongst the heaps to cause an avalanche. He never really got answers as to how it happened, perhaps no one really knew. Only now, his mother was trapped, her legs and abdomen crushed under a pile of rock and twisted metal, and blood pooled around her, clotting in her hair as she stared up into the red sky while some the towns people tried desperately to dig her out. Jack wanted to help dig too, but she grabbed hold of his hands and held him there with such determined strength that he couldn't go. Her face was pale white, which Jack had seen on others who had managed to escape after having bits taken by the Gerbils while scrounging and... he knew it was not a good sign. Neither was the type of panting-breathing she was doing.

She was going to die. He knew it. He tried to leave again, and she still clung to him tight.

"Don't you dare." She growled as though she were not injured at all.

"But... He fixed the sickness. I know he could-"

"I said, don't you dare. You ain't trading yourself for me ever again, you hear?"

Tears started streaming down his face. "Please, Momma!" Jack pleaded desperately, his voice cracking. "He could save you!"

She let go of one of his hands to gently caress his face and wipe his tears, only to smear blood across his face. "Ah, my sweet child." She said tenderly. "There be a time for all people to go. Now is my time. I'm not afraid. I know where I be going. When your time comes, we will be together again."

"Momma," He moaned. "I don't want you to go yet. He's not far, I could get there an back-"

"No." She said again, gentle yet firm. Then she smiled. "Tell yo Poppa... Tell yo Poppa... that... Tennison says... hello." Then she was gone.

Jack flung his arms around her and screamed until his voice was once again torn from him.

And the Gatekeeper's laughter filled his ears.

(insertlinebreakhere)

Jack woke gasping for air and heart pounding, his cry dying before it could escape his throat. Tears streamed down his face, and he covered his face with both hands before he was able to shake the dream from his mind and remember the state his arm had been left in after the arrival of the new strangers. He then lay there, his arms extended in the air above him, turning them about, observing the unblemished skin.

It never failed to amaze him, no matter how often it happened, and he often found himself wondering if he had simply imagined the whole thing. If it were not for the presence of the new arrivals he would inevitably find in the village the next morning he would have continued to think it was nothing more than that. He tried not to think about the next time he would be called upon.

He leaned his head back to look out the small window above his bed, and blinked when he saw the sky-time was much later than he expected. Or earlier. He blinked some more, taking stock of his body and apart from pressure on his bladder, there was nothing untoward present.

It was odd. It was unusual. He wasn't sure he liked it.

His stomach growled, which again was unusual after An Event, but with a sigh he rolled out of bed and reached out to pull on his shirt.

There was a knock at his door before it opened and his father stood there with the doctor hovering behind him in the hall. "Doc wants to see the damage."

Jack just blinked, and let his shirt fall back around his waste as the doctor hurried into the room and placed his bag of equipment on the bed next to Jack.

"How is this possible?" Dr. Claret squatted in front of Jack, shocked that there was no visible bruising any more. "Does it even hurt any more? Are you able to move your arm normally?"

"Always back to normal by dawn." Jack whispered, and looked away from the doctor. "Thank you for last night. I don't... I don't normally get to not..." He took in a a few shuddering breaths "Hurt."

Dr Claret frowned. "How often does this sort of thing happen, exactly?"

Jack looked up at his father, who just shrugged. Jack pulled his shirt over his shoulders again and wrapped his arms around himself. "The Gatekeeper don't like people traversing his land. Price has to by paid to enter here. He's not usually so... angry, but you lot were more than normally comes."

"And we can't pay ourselves?"

Jack just shook his head.

"So..." the doctor crossed his own arms. "Let me get this straight. Every time someone is sent here, a price has to be paid? What is that price? Why can't we pay for ourselves, why do YOU pay it?"

Jack's breathing increased as the doctor asked his questions, which the doctor thought was very similar to either a panic attack or he was about to burst into tears. The Sheriff swept in to kneel beside Jack, wrapping his arms around his son.

"Tell him." The Sheriff ordered gently.

Jack his his face against his father's chest, visibly shaking all over. "The Gatekeeper..." Jack breathed out at last. "Does... what ever he wants for a price at the time. Some times he likes to cut... Sometimes he cuts me up. And puts other parts to me. Sometimes he just cuts me up to see how much blood I loose. Sometimes he takes me apart and I can't move to stop him or anything, and no matter what I stay living. Sometimes he does other things, but it all hurts. I always heal to normal by morning, I don't know why, except... he took my voice and kept it. He likes that I can't scream any more. I think he mostly likes to see what makes me... work... and he didn't like the noise. I don't know for sure, but I think he keeps it in a jar."

The Sheriff crushed Jack against him self. "Oh my child," he cried. "Is that what happened the first night, with that leg?"

Jack inclined his head against his father's chest.

"I still don't understand why YOU are the one this happens to." Doctor Claret said, trying to wrap his mind around what Jack was telling him.

Jack turned his head to look over at the man. "Because I promised I would." He replied. "In exchange for saving everyone's life, I offered myself."

to be continued?


End file.
